New Orleans Saints Up 4 Spots to 20th in NFL Power Rankings

The Week Five NFL Power Rankings are here. Teams moving up and down the rankings based on previous performances, injuries, and offensive/defensive revelations or struggles. The New Orleans Saints have moved up four spots to 20th in the NFL

Undoubtedly the Saints have been fighting an up hill battle after a slow start out of the NFL gate. Since the 0-2 start they have righted the ship, specifically on defense. In fact, the defense pitched its first shutout on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, since 2012. No, not just against the Dolphins but the teams first shutout since year 2012 in general!

Offense has been the main strong suit of this team under the Brees-Payton era and this years team under new Defensive Coordinator, Dennis Allen, was supposed to be a revamped unit. Well, it certainly didn't start out that way. Entering Week Four, the Saints had the second-worst defense in the league according to the Football Power Index (FPI).

Since then the defense has allowed 13 points over the past two weeks and it seems that the defensive group has a renewed sense of focus.

Safety Kenny Vaccaro says, “We weren’t on our details. And we just got back to the basics, our fundamentals. Because preseason and training camp was so strong, we just got back to the things we did then. That’s good enough to win football games, and we understand that."

20th in the Power Rankings feels about right, right now for this Saints team. The offense is beginning to find its flow incorporating more and more of Alvin Kamara and the defense has stepped its game up. We know the offense will be there, when it comes down to it, what is this defense really made of? That will be the determining factor of them moving up or down in the weekly rankings.

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